MOM says incidence of underage maids low, Straits Times, 30 Oct 2016
Researchers from migrant worker group Transient Workers Count Too found four Myanmar workers under the legal minimum age of 23 here, during a survey on recruitment fees this year. Among the 232 women surveyed, 16 from Myanmar and 10 from Indonesia were under 23 when they first arrived.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said "the incidence of foreign domestic workers not meeting the minimum age requirement is low". MOM said it "takes a serious view" of underage maids and has measures to deter employment agents bringing them here.

These agents risk being penalised if they do not make sure entry requirements are adhered to, including that maids must be at least 23. Agents who flout the rule can be fined up to $5,000 and jailed for up to six months. MOM added that it audits agencies regularly.

It also ensures that new maids are told of the minimum age requirement during a settling-in programme they must attend. MOM staff also interview women who look relatively young to verify their application details and age.

The women will not be penalised if they come forward, MOM said. It is also important for the authorities in workers' home countries to ensure passport details are accurate, the ministry added.

=================Winter: Killing a baby girl (read "maid punching 1-year-old girl"), Indonesian maid's maximum sentence is 10 years' jail and a fine (not convicted yet). A defenseless baby killed but maximum jail term is only 10 years!! Killing an elderly Socialite, Indonesian maid who was 18 at that time, now 20 was jailed for 18 years. The underaged cruel FDW has only worked SIX DAYS and she was already frustrated to work for a fussy/perfectionist/low tolerance employer. Activists are biting on the dead woman, finger pointing that she was an abuser, treated her 6-days old FDW like slave, etc.... search and read the rubbish posts on Facebook and Yahoo News. In my opinion, FDW wasn't "programmed" to work as a domestic maid, a tough job that she didn't get herself prepared for.... princess attitude and poor mindset. Lied to get a job should be forgiven? Some people have no heart to work well so they delivered shabby work, careless and making avoidable mistakes. When you're ill, how much patience and tolerance can you set aside on a helper who kept annoying you? A forgetful person can request to write notes to perfect her job ... if she bothers to, am I right? This makes me recall my young ex-Indon FDW and current 38 years old Filipino are quite resistant to write notes. You have poor memory yet refused to co-operate by writing, make both our lives pleasant, employer need not constantly remind or nag at you... put your heart in your work, be responsible and willingly work as FDW... so hard to achieve or these are unreasonable requests to FDWs? Can't tune to become a FDW, easily homesick or nervous breakdown, get out of Spore at your costs! Don't wait till one day when drastic thing happened, you claimed you were over stressed, too young to work or not allowed to leave (terminate service), etc, thus, committed something out of impulse or plotted a revenge to get even. I know many people will show FDWs sympathy but aren't these women the root cause of their miseries/problems? Activists intentionally forgot employers didn't force any foreign women to part with their loved ones and boarded the plane... we aren't the first point of contact.Employers shouldn't be tasked to become nanny, educator cum counsellor for their FDWs.... this isn't fair! Why there's so much to bear as a FDW's employer? How come FDW isn't treated like an adult, be fully responsible for her daily living and actions? In this country, only FDW can have work stress, what about us? Activists felt employers are merely ATM machines, not humans who deserve equal treatment?Read: Indonesian maid was 16 when accused of murdering Linda Lee, 12, who was physically and mentally disabledUnderage maids: Onus on agencies to ensure entry norms

Underaged FDW was jailed for 18 years - culpable homicide, The New Paper, 1 Jun 2016She splashed a glass of water on the face of her maid, scolded her and then hit her on the head with a tray. All because the maid, who had just started working for her, used the wrong tray - plastic instead of silver. Socialite Nancy Gan Wan Geok, 69, paid with her life for her ill-treatment of her maid on March 19, 2014.Dewi Sukowati, an Indonesian who was 18 at the time, snapped and attacked Madam Gan at her bungalow in Victoria Park Road, near Farrer Road. She hit her employer's head against a wall and a ceramic-tiled step, then dumped her in a swimming pool, where Madam Gan drowned. Dewi, now 20, was jailed for 18 years yesterday after pleading guilty to one count of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the High Court. The court heard that Dewi began working for Madam Gan, an accomplished pianist and a porcelain artist who donated to charity, just six days before the fatal incident.Dewi's lawyer, Mr Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed, told Judicial Commissioner Foo Chee Hock that his client was underage when she came to Singapore to work for Madam Gan. Foreign domestic workers in Singapore must be at least 23 years old, and Dewi had used a passport with false information. Mr Muzammil also said in his client's mitigation that Madam Gan had also assaulted a previous maid and hit Dewi with a broom on her first day of work. On March 19, 2014, Madam Gan rang a bell after waking up around 7.30am. When Dewi heard the bell, she brought a glass of warm water on a tray to Madam Gan's bedroom. The elderly woman became angry when she saw that Dewi had not followed her instruction and used the wrong type of tray. It was a minor mistake as Dewi had used a plastic tray instead of a silver one, Mr Muzammil told the court.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) James Low said that Madam Gan scolded the teenager in Bahasa Indonesia: "Wrong again, wrong again, very stupid girl, don't know anything." She splashed the glass of water on Dewi's face and flung the tray on the floor. When Dewi squatted down to pick up the tray, Madam Gan snatched it from her. She then hit the back of Dewi's head with the tray. She told Dewi: "I've already told you, you forget again, you make mistakes again, I will cut your salary until it becomes $200." Dewi's monthly salary was not mentioned in the court papers. DPP Low said that Dewi then lost control of herself. She suddenly grabbed hold of Madam Gan's hair with both her hands. She swung her employer's head against a wall with all her strength, leaving her unconscious and bleeding.Dewi became worried when she checked Madam Gan and realised she was still alive. Fearing that her employer would call the police after regaining consciousness, she decided to drown her in a swimming pool located within the landed property. She dragged Madam Gan to the pool by the hair until they reached a ceramic-tiled step. DPP Low said: "The accused recalled the deceased's daily scolding and criticism, and became angry again." Dewi then grabbed Madam Gan's hair and slammed the back of her head against the edge of the step, causing more blood to flow out, he added. She dragged Madam Gan down a few more steps by her pyjamas until they reached the pool. She then tipped her employer into the water before throwing the latter's sandals into the water to give the impression that she had committed suicide by drowning.After cleaning up blood stains on the floor and walls, and changing out of her blood-stained clothes, Dewi went to a neighbour's house and rang the doorbell. Before the neighbour could answer, she saw despatch rider Mohammad Hasri Abdul Hamid passing by and told him: "Help me, my employer is in the swimming pool." They went back to the bungalow, and Mr Hasri called the police. When the police arrived, they arrested Dewi.Paramedics pronounced Madam Gan dead at 9.07am. The cause of death was found to be drowning, contributed by an injured brain due to a fractured skull. DPP Low said Dr Kenneth Koh from the Institute of Mental Health found Dewi to have an "abnormality of mind" - acute stress reaction - when she committed the offence."Dr Koh noted that the combination of the accused's young age, lack of exposure... enhanced sensitivity to further (alleged) abuse at the hands of a perfectionist employer... conceivably caused her to have reacted instantaneously without heed of the consequences." For culpable homicide not amounting to murder, Dewi could have been jailed for life, or up to 20 years, and fined.

Madam Gan was also involved in many charities in Singapore, the US, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia. According to a website named after her, Madam Gan participated in fund-raising activities for the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped, Singapore Cancer Society and the Bone Marrow Donor Programme.

The prosecution described Dewi Sukowati's attack on Madam Nancy Gan as "indisputably deliberate". Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chee Min Ping said that her fatal assault on the 69-year-old victim was made up of three distinct acts.The first: Grabbing her by the hair with both hands and swinging her head against a wall.The second: Slamming the back of her bleeding head against the edge of a ceramic-tiled step.The third: Flipping her face down into a swimming pool.Urging Judicial Commissioner Foo Chee Hock to jail Dewi for 20 years, DPP Chee said: "After the first act, the accused had 10 minutes to compose herself and calm herself down." But she realised Madam Gan was still alive and hatched a plan to drown her in the pool. While noting that, according to Dewi, Madam Gan had hit her with a tray, DPP Chee said: "Even if the accused had formed the perception that the deceased was at times particular and impatient with her... killing in the context of an employer-domestic worker (relationship) must only be regarded as completely disproportionate and unjustifiable.

Dewi Sukowati's lawyer, Mr Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed, asked the court to jail her for between 10 and 12 years. In her mitigation, he said that his client had been physically abused by socialite Nancy Gan. He said that on her first day of work, Madam Gan had poked her on the head and hit her with a broomstick. Mr Muzammil added that in Dewi's few days of employment, Madam Gan had kicked her on the back and hit her fingers with a plate. He told the court that Madam Gan had also hit one of her previous maids.His legal team managed to track down Ms Nurul Putri Mildanti, who had worked for Madam Gan in 2013, in Indonesia, he said. "According to Nurul Putri, her said employer was a hot-tempered and very impatient person who threw things like trays and other things within her reach at her if she was angry," Mr Muzammil said. "There was an occasion when Nurul Putri was hit and scratched on her hand by Madam Gan." He also explained how Dewi, despite being too young to work in Singapore, had managed to circumvent the law. She had been introduced to a recruiter known only as Pak Bangun, who ran an unaccredited maid employment agency, and he had applied for a passport for her.When she received the passport from him, she noticed that her date of birth was stated as Aug 5, 1990, even though she was born five years later, Mr Muzammil said. Pak Bangun told Dewi to lie about her age and date of birth if she was asked about them. Stressing that his client was an underage worker at the time of the offence, Mr Muzammil said: "The accused was a victim of human trafficking when she came to Singapore to work... "The accused did not plan or premeditate to cause the death of the victim."Winter: FDW is obviously in the wrong to lie about her age and tried ways to ensure her employer is 101% dead. Agent could have mislead her to work here but I have a strong feeling somebody has introduced her to that agent, painted pictures that made her willing to take the risk. How come agent not tracked down and dealt with for providing an underage maid? So many things happened and simple thing like age, can't Indonesian govt do something effective instead of kept asking for better salary and perks? We need quality maids but not ballooned costs that are unjustifiable. We don't deserve to be cheated by FDWs or their agents .... why force employers to forgive or overlook what a liar did?

Yahoo comments:
E.T.-- Maid agencies are only concerned with supplying domestic helpers to employers. You should see and hear for yourselves how the maids are treated at the agencies even before they leave for their new work places.
The agencies lack after sales services as part of their package, such as conducting initial telephone calls on whether both employers and domestic helpers are doing well and/or are compatibly placed.
The agencies usually will leave it to the the employers to return with complaints or sometimes even in extreme cases, the domestic helpers to find ways on their own to communicate with the agencies of abuses. When that happens, it is always too late to fix problems.

AI Trooper -- Worse still, the agency in which this animal came from lied about her age to the employer! I don't understand why MOM did not charge this agency for the lie it made to the employer, who might not had hired this animal if it was underaged!

P.E. -- Maid agencies always got away. They should be forced to close down and should not be given licenses to trade.

Pepe -- The maids come to Singapore knowing that they are paid much more than what they can ever get in their country. They must be prepared to work hard and endure criticism for shoddy work - just like all Singaporean employees.
No one force them at gun point to come to Singapore to work. Indonesians coming to Singapore to work must follow Singapore laws - not the other way. If they think we should follow their laws just because their nationals are working here, they should take them back. We are much happier.

ocean -- yes maid agencies are very irresponsible. they're in it only for the money.

Stew -- @Pepe, maid from anywhere are human and entitled to be treat with respect. They are employees, have family and parent and siblings just like any of us. They are not slaves or a hamster/dog that can buy from the market or shop that can subject to abuse physically or verbally. The maid have to pay 6 months of their salary to agencies to become a maid. Have a heart, a bigger heart and be a human, and a better human. This is a very sad ending for both employer already dead, and the employee as being the maid. If more employers have a big heart, kindness, patience for slower learning and tolerant for mistakes, many many people can be happier and live longer.

Jing2 -- Why would you abuse your maid?? This is the person you trust with your children, your elderly, your food, medication etc... makes no sense to treat them badly.
So many are like this maid-- young, with very little to lose... There should be a policy of agency reps to visit the maids at their employer's place of residence every month or so to check up on them. If abused maids know that the agency will be coming in a few days or weeks, they might be more patient and hold off on such rash acts.

Chameleon -- All lives are equal. Even if you are rich, you should not treat or view other, who are not so well-off, as lower grade people. That's what a lot of these 'powerful' people think/do to their employees. Remember the Korean Air 'nut' case?
Your actions will always come around to haunt you and unfortunately, in this case, a live is lost.
What I find weird is that the victim was still alive before the maid decide to pull her to the pool to drown/kill her, and how does that not considered murder?
Consider this against the case of the Clarke Quay fight where an employee of Universal Studio was killed. The last I heard, those involved in the case was charged with murder although the victim die because of a hit that made him fall and knock the back of his head against a rock step.
Sometimes, layman like me just don't understand the legal system...

FiveCents -- Sadly, the young domestic help has taken a life and justice has to meted out. However, it is a lesson to employers too not to be harsh with their employed help. At the same time, I have heard of domestic help coming to Spore as if it is a paid holiday.
MoM should look into this and see what positive policies it can put in place (not the bloody usual tax the employers and agents more). For example, MoM can see how to set aside a small sum from the tax levy collected to create a small bonus for employees to collect after two years of continued service. MoM can see how it can make it easier for employer's to change maids without financial hassle and valid reasons. MoM needs to come up with practice that allows domestic help to get help readily when situations where their phone is confiscated etc. MoM takes alot of money for levy but did it used it for good use for domestic help employment or to finance more bureaucracy ?
I may be wrong but MoM has to be more reflective and more forthcoming with better policies for all of us.

Alan Ong -- Huh?? I can't help but to question. Isn't that murder in cold blood?
"Worried that Gan would call the police if she were to regain consciousness, Dewi decided to place Gan’s body in the swimming pool of the house to an attempt to drown her and make it look like a suicide.
While she was dragging the body to the swimming pool, she was reminded of the abuse and criticism from Gan and became angry again. Dewi then slammed Gan’s head against the edge of a ceramic-tiled step, causing the already bloodied head to bleed further."

Pepe -- For such vicious and premeditated murder of an innocent lady, the public would expect a death sentence like the Sarawak man who robbed and killed another man. But I supposed being an Indonesian national can make a difference!
If a motorist who gets angry and punches another driver for dangerously cutting into his lane can be sent to jail or fined, being agitated or provoked is no excuse or grounds for such compassion. Will the prosecution appeal for harsher punishment to prevent moresuch cases which have caused as much disquiet and annoyance as employers who have abuse their maid?

Insurance expert -- Whether Gan did actually abused the maid, that remains as a question mark, whatever was presented in the court was by the person who murdered her. One thing can be 100% sure is, the maid murdered the employer in cold blood. For someone who was already bleeding profusely from the back of her head, the maid can still drag the body and slam Gan’s head against the edge of a ceramic-tiled step. Finally throwing the body into the pool to ensure Gan's death was certain. This is not something a panic person will do, more like all out for blood. And the judge gave 18 years for such murder????

William -- First of all, did Gan really hit her and splashed water at her? Who could prove what Dewi said about the abuse was the truth? Did She could have said it to save her own skin.
The so-called 'abuse' might have just been a fussy boss picking on her work, such as scolding Dewi for using the wrong tray or doing a bad job of sweeping the floor, and she just snapped. Dewi could have embellished her testimony with bits of falsehood, just to save her own skin.
I think Dewi could have been someone who wasn't used to being ordered around or scolded. She could have been unsuitable to be a maid. Anyway, our maid agencies should really assess the background of many Native Indonesians before letting them be maids in Singapore. I hear that many of these Indonesians may come from some violent hill tribes that may even have had a history of chopping off their enemies' heads and cannibalizing on the human flesh of their enemies. So, violent killing of this sort seems really nothing to them.

Vivien -- In my opinion 18 years is too lenient. She murdered a person - if she was abused, she could run away or ask for transfer. She showed that she is very vicious and devious. After hurting her employer, she tried to cover up her evil deeds by dragging her and throwing her into the pool! All these shows how wicked she is.
I understand that if there was abuse, then a person can snap and hit back. But after doing so and seeing that the employer is hurt, a decent person would then call for help not 'finish' the job.
18 years is nothing- she should pay for her actions with her own life!

Voice Of Reason -- I don't trust some of our judges! How come this is just manslaughter when she bashed the employer's head against the wall with "all her might"!!!! Anyone with a little bit of intelligence knows that this will kill someone. And, instead of calling for an ambulance or police, she threw the employer into the pool and she very well knew that that would definitely kill the employer if she's still alive!!!! THE INTENTION TO KILL WAS THERE!!!!!! SHE SHOULD BE HANGED!!!!!! It also serves as a deterrent to other maids. Most of the murders committed by maids involved Indonesians. The government should look into this and and be strict about letting Indonesian maids in without thorough screening.

Tong -- It is either their culture, religion and/or their race that frequently have such problems. Notice most of the weird or evil doing by maids were mostly Indonesians?
Try not to hire any indonesians.for your family safety.

Facebook comments:
Jim Francis Robles -- If you treat your maid well I'm pretty much sure you wont end up that way. Feel pity for the maid she came here to work and earn money to send back to her family back home and now here she will stay behind bars for 18years... If you have a high expectations better not hire a maid and just do all the chores by yourself.. I already witness how someone scold her maid in public just because she can't push her employers wheelchair and how someone and their family eat while their maid is just standing there, feel pity for 'em.. My sister has a maid from Myanmar and they treat her like their own family and the maid is happily working for 'em for 6yrs treat them well coz they are human too

Lynn Amy -- Some employer they are very arrogant! I know you pay the maid salary but must remember this, the maid is not your slave!!!! sometimes this employer scolded their maid like nobody business.. do you think the maid don't have any feeling? they are human being too you know.

Asmara Fakir -- My employer each time i open the door whenever come home.. the moment i open the door.. she will start nagging loudly.. i will just quickly close it is embarassing if neighbour heard this. And it is my wonder i stay with her for 8years. Hahaha each time want to change employer i so sayang to pay agency 3-4 month no sallary. I understand my boss have a bad migrain and no intent to pain my feeling. .thats all..

James Tan -- The amount of stupidity on people who don't read the entire story and just read on the title itself. The maid was provoked to retaliate yes, but after the retaliation she knew her boss was still alive by checking her heartbeat. After verifying her employer is still alive and fear of consequences that her employer will report her to the police, she murdered her employer by drowning her as "the dead don't tell tales".
I wonder what would happen to the public reaction if the woman is your family or that the one who got murdered is a kid. All of you who nod your head to the killing are sickos and deserves to go to hell.

Asmara Fakir -- She once stop in the middle of dragging and suddenly remember how she scold her daily.. and she proceed to let her die

Chan Nair -- My family will not do such a thing. My Mom's Indonesian maid a young girl always sits by my mom and watches TV together with her. She was treated so well and vice versa the maid was caring towards my Mom. We had to send her off after my Mom passed away.

Serene Ang -- No matter what... Murdering someone is still a crime. Always seem for help. If like that can murder ppl then everyone murder each other. If Ur parents scold u daily then u murder them?

James Tan -- Chan Nair first of all this maid is new so I doubt the "continuous abuse" can be applied here, and secondly the killing is committed with intention to cover her act of committing an assault on her employer which shows to say this maid is sound enough to devise a plot and is proof that the killing is not a rash act.
A rash act that kills a person is only when you suddenly commit a criminal force or assault on the person and it results in death. A plotted killing in this scenario is considered murder and I am absolutely astounded by the amount of people who agreed to pay sympathy to such an atrocity.

Sarahlyn Tan -- It's disturbing that some foreigners think of the maid as a hero. Are our laws not prohibitive enough? Why was she only jailed for 18 years instead of being hanged? I find her claims highly dubious. It is the words of an artful maid vs the silence of a dead philanthropist. It seems like maids can get away with anything by claiming abuse these days. How much suffering can there be within 6 days of employment?

Kamaljit Aceman Gill -- Some of these helpers are so young - coming straight from a village without modern luxuries and faced with a whole bunch of employers, technology and more often than not have to take care of your babies and kids.
Are they prepared mentally for this? Do employers also appreciate this? With all this sudden pressures we have seen and heard what can happen when they snap.

Kat Kate Kathy -- The best thing on earth is to do everything yourself. Why need a maid?
You expect the maid to be how smart? Serving on the right tray? Right table set up? Demoralise her for no knowledge of all these? Employer should go for counseling before hiring a maid.

Rio Sale -- Im also helper...being a helper is not easy a lot sacrifices...simple thank u ..say please..and even simple smile to our employer we are very happy because it means they appreciate it
Helper even got sick ..hungry..tired they never stop to do the duty or responsibility because sometimes if u got sick and u need to rest for hours only some employer say lazy..even the employer scolded so many times shouting helper never forget to smile greet them but all the pain is inside the heart and mind sometimes helper crying inside the toilet to voice out her sad feelings..we come here to help to our family to support them..
Pls treat us like a human..then i treat u bck nicely..be fair...

Linda Tan -- Most important thing was respect.. if the maid dont respect the employer n u expect the employer to respect the maid. Its not possible. Ever though some employer treat their maid very good but in the end they steal things from employer house when they r preparing to go back to their country. So i feel that if a maid killed the employer in spore, they must be treated the same as the employer.

Tiny Torres -- Its a big different if your employer is chinese some of them are rude . Arrogant, feels like the maid has and hiv or etc because they dont want that the maid use their plates, glasses , spoon and fork and knife, whe the maid take thier lunch they have to wait until the family done eating . And the most worst part of having chinese employer when they are goig to eat outside the maid looks like a dog .
I have known some of my friends especially in singapore . and some of them if somebody asked them who is she the employer reply she is my maid , actually they are saying the truth but some of the employer from UK , US, they would simply saying she help us in our home . She is going to take care of my kids .

80% of singaporean employer are so pathetic, they treat their maid like a slave ! And if the maid are pretty than them they will treat you more worst but as poor people doesnt have choices.

Tiny Torres -- I have been a maid too thats the reason why i felt pity some of the nannies who has treating bad by the employers because doing a household chores its gonna be a hardest part of the job. You just have to take a rest when you are sleeping, they are too abusive specially singaporean employer, i have indonesian friend she always buying food for her meal. Her employer (singaporean ) insisted that she cant have those bread (loaf bread gardenia) and if she want to eat she need to buy for herself! Wtf a bread is just 1dolar . So i told her to buy 5 loaf bread and put the bread next to the bread that her employer kept always . The bitch type of employer has no heart and mind. Her off day is just half day on sunday and she has to be at home at 7 and before she went out she has to feed the kids and arranged the room . I cant resist those type of people

Ryusaki Hatsue -- Wow I wonder what would have happened if the employer killed The Maid instead... Would she receive an equal punishment? I think not. But the maid's fault was that she shouldn't have drowned her employer but just called the ambulance

James Tan -- No matter how bad the employer is, it doesn't give u the right to take one's life. If you are mistreated, you can always go to the authorities and make a report. For those who says the employer deserves it, yes the employer deserves punishment by law, not death. Those sickos who said the employer deserves death are just encouraging retaliation by death in the future.

these days as long as something to do with employer vs maid situation, public reaction will always be against the employer without even verifying the facts of the case especially when there is a "rich" or "well to do" on the side of the employer.

Sammy Sparkyu Goh -- i find this whole vigilante attitude thing fueled by social media excesses disturbing. Why are we so mean to our fellow human beings that we cannot even feel bad for someone who died? We judge dead people for being stupid, selfish, cruel. Sure, they might be. But they're dead and killing can never be justified, why are we in praise of murderers?

Shinn Ng -- The employer bought this upon herself. So what if she is rich and donated a lot to charity. How one treats the poor is a reflection of who they are as a person. And the way she treated the maid says a lot about her character. She gets no sympathy from me.

Linda Tan -- Nowadays maid cannot be trust... even u treat them good n in the end they also steal your things n go back to their country. My boss treat her maid so good n in the end the maid very clever she send 1 big bag home first then when the days she is going back then my boss ask her y she never carry her bag. Then my boss suspect her that she already stolen things from her hse n send it back to her country before she return.

Chai Kovs Kee -- Hit with tray and that's not reason enough to aggravate the maid to retaliate? Have your bosses and ex-supervisors assaulted you in any way?

James Tan -- Chai Kovs Kee retaliation is one thing, murder is another, she knew her boss is alive after the attack, and yet she didn't think of calling an ambulance, instead she drowned her and tried to fake an accident. You would plot and kill a person who hit u with a tray?

Linda Tan -- Chai Kovs Kee, even the employer aggravated the maid n does not mean that the maid can kill the employer. So u mean, some employer treat their maid bad n the maid must kill the employer ar.. then spore employer will be killed by maid often already. I also never heard of employer killed maid in spore leh.

Lee HT -- But how many employers have died in the hands of Indonesia maid to Date?
It is good that Indonesia stop their citizens from working in SG.

Margaret Chong -- None got the death sentence, even lives of innocent children were involved.

Linda Tan -- Actually some maid r telling lies that they only have 1 bread lah, lock in the room lah, all is make up stories becos they r not happy to work with their employer. And if they not happy, they just can request to go back to agency n y must they tell lies n y some must kill the children n employer. So i feel that if this maid get jail only, its rely not fair. Few week ago, 1 of the maid killed a 1yr plus child, its a child n not a toy. Its a heart pain for the parent. Rely hope our spore govt must look into this n dont let no experience maid to come to spore anymore. Because lack of experience then they dont know how to work n they just sit down there n every month employer have to pay for their salary, so i feel that its not fair. All maid thinks that their employer go to work is easy job. Its the same as a maid life. If we employer do wrongly, we will get the scolding from the boss also so pls dont compare that we employer enjoy life while working. Some of the bosses also treat their employer bad.

Lee HT -- Linda Tan some maids who has just started work in SG REALISED that they don't like to work for this employer or country, therefore trying to find faults and accused employers of mistreating them badly.
Some even try to run away when the employers were at work.

Cherry Tan -- A maid told a old employer, she doesn't need to eat rice but need black sesame paste , fresh milk, and others . keep drumstick for herself but give the old employers hard breast meat....so don't pity maid are innocent or naive ..u never know how smart they are......
Some maids run away with man although employer treated her good. Remember there was a case a maid brought employer's kid and run a way ???lucky the kid was found.....

Recent case maid hit a toddler till she die ,Redhill case -maid bought petrol to burn the employer with the kid & kill a old lady....all these can see how cruel maids are .....they kill human like killing a ant .... no matter how angry they shudnt take life easily! They can simply ask to go home !!!!what kind of nonsense excuse ????!!!!·

Olivia Choong -- Maybe we should focus on the solutions instead of the killing stats and the sensationalized stories? Such as education on both sides - domestic workers need to know their rights and that they should seek help at a shelter before getting to a point of snapping, and employers need to understand the culture, personality, difficulties of their domestic worker/s, so that there is greater acceptance, and both can work towards better communication. When blaming others for being irresponsible (in your opinion), it's also worth looking at your own reaction and asking yourself what the situation is trying to teach you.

Samraat Dash -- How weird, many people are writing that she deserved to be murdered. For what...being nasty to that maid? And this is the maid's version, we will never know the real story. C'mon people, tomorrow it might happen to your loved one.

Sarah Lee -- Reading this makes my blood boil. People also human. How can she treat her like a slave? I pity the maid.

Ummul Ammatullah -- It is very sad at the way society has turned out. One can only assume about what has happened because dead people dont talk. On one hand, employer's actions are wrong. On the other hand, is it really the truth? Yet, not a single person ever realised that it is not easy to work with old people. Even if the employer did wrong, she was an old lady after all. I have two elderlies in the house. At that age, they cannot control their mouths and cannot think as well as they used to in their youth. My mum used to call my dad senile cos of his age, although at times, he seems perfectly fine. My mum is slowly changing to become like my dad with her incessant nagging and perfectionist ways. Thankfully, both of them brought me up well after modelling how to take care of my late grandmother who had dementia. They always tell me, grandma is old, be patient. So now i tell myself, my parents are old, be patient.

So if the employer was really that bad, it is sad that the helper never had an old person to take care of back in her homeland. It is even more sad that instead of reporting the abuse to the authority, she decided to take laws into her own hands.

Kalvindar Kaur -- That does not give her the right to pull her hair and slam her head against the wall.
These maids are here to work. Not cause death to all and sundry as they wish. There are embassies available. Go there if u think ur being mistreated.

Cherry Tan -- Sad to say Many protection for maids yet no protection for employers here !! 18 yrs jail for a life (some 10 yrs only) , is that fair ????!!!! this encourage maids kill more employers cox they don't hv to do any housework yet still can hv better food better environment in jail !!!
Is also educating our society, who doesn't treat u well just kill him/her....if parents cane the kids or ill treat the kid mean kids can kill their parents too !!!what kind of signal do we get Fm this kind of punishment? ??

Ryan Tan -- i bet my to my very last dollar - none of these killer maids will ever ever be hanged - even the one that killed the employer and her kid and set fire was only jailed - gosh where is justice!

One maid, two stories, The New Paper, Mar 2015Was she locked in her employer's home, made to work long hours and starved as she had claimed? Or did she make them up to get out of her employment contract?TWC2 - Did rescued maid lie out of fear?Miss Wahyuni said she wasn't allowed out of her employer's house, was made to work long hours and was starved. She also claimed that she had to beg for food from the neighbours.MOM - She said she had sufficient food because she cooked her own, and was well rested, sleeping from 11pm to 6am.She added that at no time did she indicate she was confined by her employer against her will in the house.She also agreed to work on her rest days and was compensated with salary-in-lieu, as required by law.

TWC2 - Miss Wahyuni said she wasn't paid in full - for the 28 months she worked, she received only $2,000. It is an offence not to pay a maid's salary monthly.She also said her employer seized the red packet money given to her by visitors during Chinese New Year.MOM - She said she agreed to the salary-safekeeping arrangement and that whenever she wished to remit her money back to Indonesia, her employer never failed to do so.MOM ensured that her salary balance of $4,550, which was in her employer's safekeeping, was paid in full before she returned to Indonesia and that her passage was paid for by her employer - as required by law.TWC2 - Miss Wahyuni claimed she was once slapped by the matriarch of the house.MOM - She said she was never physically or verbally abused by her employer and family. Once, the employer's mother tapped Miss Wahyuni on her right cheek, but she didn't wish to pursue the matter because the elderly woman has dementia and scolds the family members as well.

The story of Indonesian maid Wahyuni and her dramatic rescue was first told by non-governmental organisation Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) on its website. But in a subsequent interview with Ministry of Manpower (MOM) officials, Miss Wahyuni changed her story. So she lied. But to whom and why?TWC2 is insistent that its version of events is accurate. The organisation promotes equitable treatment for migrant workers in Singapore. Last year, it helped 17 maids who had disputes with their employers. It also provided shelter for 15 of them.So why did Miss Wahyuni change her tune later?"A lot of the changing of statements by maids are done out of fear. They are often scared that something will happen to them and they won't be able to go home," says Mr Jolovan Wham, executive director of migrant worker welfare group Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home).Ms Thio says TWC2 volunteers, including herself, always tell the maids to tell the truth when making statements to the authorities. "We tell them they are signing legal documents and if they lie, then they are punishable by law," she says.MOM similarly reminds maids who make allegations about mistreatment or crimes committed against them. "Wahyuni understood that statements made to public officers have to be truthful, and that her statements would be verified against other available sources including her employer," its spokesman says."In accordance with our protocol, a statement was properly recorded with the assistance of an interpreter in Malay, a language understood by the worker," added the MOM spokesman. "Before finalising, the interpreter read back the statement to Wahyuni and she confirmed the information recorded."So why did Miss Wahyuni lie? Ms Thio says it was the maid's first time working overseas, let alone outside her village. "She was scared, alone and not empowered by her employers. Not having had any day off, she had no friends, no contacts and no access to information," she says.A counsellor, who declined to be named, says many foreign domestic workers she spoke to feel lonely and isolated "as the only people they interact in the first few weeks in this strange land are their employers and families". "Those who miss home will lie - that they are sick or a family member is hurt or has died - just to try and return," she adds.Psychiatrist Adrian Wang says: "Some lie out of fear. Others from greed. It really depends on the context. It's human nature." Sri Dewi, 25, an Indonesian, has worked here for five years with three different employers. She tells The New Paper on Sunday that when she first came to Singapore in February 2010, the other maids taught her to lie, "otherwise it will be difficult to change employer or get days off", she says.Filipino maid Luzmarie Escoba, 42, says maids sometimes lie to get out of trouble. She also says that they sometimes resort to lying "so we don't need to pay back our salaries when we break our contracts".

"In handling cases, it is important to remain dispassionate and objective, neither favouring the employer nor the employee," an MOM spokesman tells TNPS. "It is regrettable that TWC2 was so eager to believe a story of alleged abuse and to publish a grossly untruthful account on its website."At no time did Wahyuni indicate that she was confined by her employer against her will in the house." She says that from interviews done with Miss Wahyuni, MOM ascertained that "no offence has been alleged by Wahyuni to be committed by her employer"."She was neither mistreated, abused, nor did she allege that she was confined against her will. Wahyuni merely wanted to terminate her employment contract to return to Indonesia," adds the spokesman. "This could have been done lawfully by invoking the termination clause and serving out her notice period as in her employment contract - without TWC2 needing to whisk her away."

When a maid lies about her age... Mypaper, 3 Jun 2014 DO YOU suspect that your helper is underage, despite what her documents say?
There is a chance that she is. Maid agencies here told My Paper that their overseas counterparts sometimes jack up the ages of their maids to 23, the legal age to work here. Identity, travel and even educational documents are forged to match. Some countries do not keep a proper record of births, which makes it easy for maids to lie about their age.
Overseas agents do it because the young helper-wannabes want to earn a living, and because they agree to work for less, agents said. Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) president K. Jayaprema said this is a big problem, especially among maids from Indonesia and Myanmar.
She said that agencies have to take care in choosing licensed overseas counterparts which they can trust. "The problem is that agents now take referrals from tourists and even maids themselves," Ms Jayaprema added.
Dealing with licensed agents can help agencies should they be caught for bringing in underage maids, she said, adding that agencies can lodge a complaint with the embassies of the maids' home countries because there are forged passports involved.
Martin Silva, managing consultant of Happy Maids Happy Home, said that young maids who are here for the first time may get a culture shock and become homesick. He said that could be why some of them resort to criminal behaviour.
Ms Valli Pillai, a case worker with migrant rights group Home, said that she sees an average of about 10 underage helpers who run away from their employers' homes every month. They are mostly from Myanmar, she said. Most agencies depend on the documents and photographs sent over by their overseas counterparts, but some take extra care in trying to ensure their maids are at least 23 years old. Ms Shirley Ng from Orange Employment Agency said that she goes to the home countries of domestic workers to interview them personally.
"Sometimes, when talking to them, you can just sense that they are really young, and not ready," she said.
Photographs are unreliable, because the helpers sometimes look older than they actually are, she added.
Agencies which bring in underage maids will be penalised.
They have to bear the full cost of sending the maids home. These agencies are also issued warnings, demerit points, or both, which could lead to their licences being revoked by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), a spokesman said.
Most times, the only way to find out if a maid is underage is if she admits it herself, agencies said.
Employment agencies should exercise due diligence in verifying the foreign domestic workers' age by interviewing them, and verifying their passports, birth documents and educational certificates, the MOM spokesman added.
MOM staff also interview the workers selectively to verify their application details. Winter: How many agencies exercised due diligence? Maid agencies have no risk to bear nor monetary losses so why they need to take extra care and ensure foreign maids are of suitable work quality? If you didn't get a good or suitable maid/FDW, pay agencies again for a new cycle of recruitment. If agencies are too helpful, exercised due diligence, that means lesser business opportunity for them. Why should they turn money way? At most, get demerit points then close that bad named agency and open another one with a new name.If you hired an underaged maid, her work quality is discounted and the worse scenario is if she's not mentally ready to work (homesick, make you her nanny) as your FDW, all the recruitment fee and training you've given her will be unrecoverable. This can easily be a loss of S$3000. Activists felt this is small money. Both MOM and activists felt such costs should be borned by employer, not maid agency or maid because by walking into a maid agency, we've agreed to be milking cows! It in another way signifies that Employers are rich and have cash nowhere to spend, that's why we employed maid to 'help eat our savings'.... donate to them and agencies, as well as embassy (eg Philippines which came up with its own contract and expensive home leave procedures), MOM (levy), insurance company (each terminated maid means your $300 is likely to be wasted), etc. Expats like to bite us and bullshit, tell irrelevant stories/facts that having domestic maids are for the rich in their countries. They will not pity Sg employers. Their mindset is wrong so how can expats/activists be considerate, sympathize and throw lesser daggers at us?When a maid lies, she is being dishonest, this is so clear yet some wooden-headed activists argued employers forced FDWs to lie. It is such a lame excuse yet activists/expats chose to side maids . Biting on paying package and not using countries with different living standards is another top hit for activists and expats. The FDW jobs in Spore must be so attractive that maids resorted to lie. Would you tolerate a liar in your house? I am sure you won't but you won't admit. Ponder on your steadfast support for foreign maids and how much harm you've done to those nice but unfortunate/unlucky Employers. The salary and live-in package in Spore is many times better than working in source country, this fact is undeniable! No maid would be so stupid to pay high recruitment fee and then take up a lowly paid FDW job. You mean maids have no brains? You mean maids here are the most stupidest humans? You mean those wonderful live-in package painted by maids who returned to source countries (home leave or repatriated) are lies? If those are lies, why are you encouraging maids to continue lie and mislead their own countryman, thus lured others over to 'suffer'? So is lying a good virtue? Shouldn't MOM be stricter on maid agencies? Shouldn't liar be severely punished when a contract is terminated?==============Lying is a virtue for maid?Looks like more and more maids are lying. Is lying a virtue?Isn't it wrong?Why MOM is not keeping close watch on agencies and ensure maids we hired are honest and really agreed to work as per our requirements?How come maids are allowed to lie and get jobs at our expense ... no need to compensate us for the monetary and time loss? Being poor, ie earning lesser than employers gave FDWs good excuse to be misbehave?I thought I have a good FDW, J but she proved me wrong! Felt being betrayed and stabbed deeply by a person whom I could finally trust and place my girl in her 'good care'. When I told my sister, she find it hard to believe. Sis initially wanted to head hunt J to take care of her 3 kids so made me thought 我转运了，老天终于决定不玩我 真是乐极生悲！人不可太得意 太乐观!My ex-maid J (3rd filipino) lied and tried to get me into trouble by writing a letter of complaint to MOM. Luckily, I've proof about what we agreed and printed the online MOM FDW's entitlement to show I didn't short change her eg her demand for a private room and accusing me for not letting her leave to get higher pay.My current maid lied the first day of work. We have agreed on the mobile phone usage but she thought she could persuade me to give in .... after I've paid for her agency recruitment and loan!! Unwilling to carry out my requirements, why said want to work for me ... gave her time to consider, nobody forcing her to work under 'harsh/unreasonable conditions'. I know her relunctance so I told the agent to tell her clearly, my terms will not change. There are plenty of employers around, she doesn't need to come to my house to 'play me out'. If a worker is good, it shouldn't be hard for her to be transferred. Only demanding and choosey FDWs will be left on the shelves. No employer will be keen to employ a princess maid.... thought we've money nowhere to spend?All maids have brains and are not stupid. Why lying is now a good excuse for maids?All we want is just a good helping hands and whatever entitlement MOM has legistrated, she will be given ... isn't this not good enough? If the terms are not more than 100% better than home country, why come to Spore? Why activists are still bitting us and thought following the norm or the MOM employment rules is being INHUMAN? Why activists are not comparing apples to apples? Why so many unkind people around, like the joy to land their feet on us?

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PURSUIT OF UNDERAGE ISSUE : Letter to MOM dated 24 June 2015I hope that MOM is seriously looking into the above underage issue I raised a while ago. Letters written by the maid had attested to the fact that she herself considered that she is very young. I had passed these letters to MOM officer in person. She also has very little education, lower than that specified by MOM. She also told me that there are many young maids as young as she, being recruited and MOM never found out. In her words, "the myanmar man asked if we 23 yar, we no say. Agent said cannot say". I am taking a serious view to this fact for reasons that (1) we employers could be provided with child labourers. (2) we could be provided with people who due to their young age combined with lack of requisite education, are emotionally unstable, has existing behavioural issues with their families, gullible and easily led astray (which will cause further problems for everyone involved). This put us employers in a very vulnerable position when they come to live with us. (3) We could be provided with people who are totally unprepared to shoulder responsibilities of a work-life and emotionally/socially immature to understand the impact of a contractual obligation. When people are this young, they often do not have strong enough reasons for them to 'learn and stick it out' as would someone who works to put food on the table or someone driven to build wealth. (4) Because they are young, we employers have a social and moral obligation to look after them much like looking after our own teenage kids. We should, whether we like it or not. (5) Because they are young and immature, they are also vulnerable to dangers in a foreign land, more so than older workers who are able to take care of themselves. I had been put through hard experience that left me feeling hurt & unhappy. So most likely I won't rest this matter. I am not sure how maids this young coupled with little education and little skills, are allowed to work in Singapore, falsified records or not. Surely it is the job of MOM to ensure that documents are verified. You see, maids who clearly had 10 years of education and above 20 years old, living in my block, speaks differently and behaved differently. I found among the papers left in my former maid's room is her false secondary school cert which she already told me before it is falsified. I also found that a crumpled exercise book she has left behind shows that she learns certain lines about her age & background by heart. I know that in order to prove that she has the requisite 10 years of education, she was supposed to show an original education cert to MOM two or three weeks ago. But I wondered how she does this, as the so-called 'original' is still in my home, among many of Ei Phyo's discarded stuff. My question is: if MOM takes a serious view to the well-being of the FDW, shouldn't the first step be to verify that a person is fit and suitable for work in Singapore, for the maid's protection as much as it is for the employers' ? Surely, it will be too tunnel-visioned to view a maid's well-being just in terms of the “good treatment” by employers. Sadly, even what is considered "a good treatment" is a subjective topic that can be challenged by certain parties.